If you had to pick one -- what aspect of the World of Hârn do you like the most?

I went with "the subtle presentation of the 'fantastic' elements". It helps to keep the fantasy plausible and it's handled adeptly in Harn. This is also the reason why I'm more intrested in seeing a new fantasy culture forming race added to cannon, rather than more human kingdoms.

I've been collecting for 25+ years; both Canon and Fanon (and a few Heresies to boot). This has come up to nearly 50 binders (1 inch mostly) of Harnic Lore. Every article has at least one "nugget" of pure gold and I've come to love it all. And the wife hasn't divorced me (yet).

The Ancient One has returned !!!
...senility and all !!!

welcome back :)

Praise whichever diety you believe in (on Terra - in the U.S.A. at least - that would be considered Jesus) that the local government believes in public accessable internet.

The time to use it is haphazard at best, but occasional communication is still possible.
Hallelula !!!!

The Ancient One has returned !!!
...senility and all !!!

Senility Intact

"Praise whichever diety you believe in (on Terra - in the U.S.A. at least - that would be considered Jesus) . . ."

1) Does it HAVE to be Jesus or can I choose to worship a different one? Or maybe withhold all of my worship until I find one I really like?

2) Is Jesus actually considered a diety? I thought he was the Son of God, still divine but not a god himself. Of course, I'm not a Christian so what the H-E-double-hockey-stick would I know?

- Just Jack, a faithful worshipper of Halea since 1996 (I tried Larani first, but she's just too much of a prude!)

...frankly, Halea has also always tantalized me.
However on Terra (and in the U.S.A. in particular) it is always safest to acknowlede the dominant religion and to parrot it's patter. If you have followed our politics a bit, you will relize that Jesus is the one the "born-agains" pray to. Though technically you are correct, culturally Jesus is the savior.

Remember, even on Harn, it is best to blend in with the natives. Even if you are a Halean.

The Ancient One has returned !!!
...senility and all !!!

FYI - This isn't a US site..... it is hosted in Australia, and run by a German, a Canadian and a New Zealander :)

Cheers.

J.

---------------------
Fástred na Beréma,
Rówanti na Sávè-k’nôr

There's a joke in there somewhere, surely?

- "Pardon me for living, I'm sure."
- NO-ONE GETS PARDONED FOR LIVING.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Mort)

Where is my passport!!! I will be locked up if I don't have my papers!!!
Just kidding (I think). They won't lock you up if you don't have your papers... unless you look Middle Eastern or Hispanic or are wearing a Mohawk or say you don't believe in Jesus or ride a skateboard or....

PANIC ALERT !!! PANIC ALERT !!! PANIC ALERT !!! PANIC ALERT !!!
(Calm down. Don't pay attention to those men in the corner. Just take this pill and wipe the drool off your chin and everything will be ok...)

BTW what were we discussing? Ah yes, my return to cyberspace.

The Ancient One has returned !!!
...senility and all !!!

I like several things about Harn Master, any of the versions since the very start. First is the feel for the various medieval cultures, from Greco-Roman to european. Next is the quanity of the canon and fanon material, and the quality of the material. Third is the way magic is portrayed though in my own games magic is pretty much non existant in general. All in all I enjoy the game and have since it first came out many years ago.

I had to go with "The detail of the written material". I collected tons of the books, pamphlets, etc when they 1st started coming out but have been away from the game for like 20 years or so. The other day while going though some boxes I found all my old stuff and decided to dig back into it. All 1st edition. Today I purchased a good chunk of the HM:G books and send them off to the printers. I should be picking them up tomorrow afternoon. I'm looking forward to sitting down for some good reading.

Welcome back! :)

I voted for subtle representation of the fantastic elements, but could have picked a few. Many worlds before HM were very high fantasy orientated. What bothered me was most of the novels I had red had nowhere near the fantasy level of many of the worlds.

The two "worlds" I was most a fan of were Hyboria and Middle Earth. Now Middle Earth was more "high fantasy" than Hyboria, but it was still not the ridiculous high fantasy of many of the D&D adventures out at the time.

I must say since then the low population totals, lack of any technology transfer between the barbarians and civlised cultures has bothered me.

But the one thing I have to say is Harn is far more detailed with a "real" econonomy and other things represented, and a huge step in the direction of detail and other things compared to other "worlds" out there.

Really, I think why questions or issues come up like I mentioned above is only because Harn is so detailed with a good foothold based on the "real" world. It is for me the best of the various fantasy worlds out there for detail and some "real" basis, unlike the dungeons with a ton of monsters that exist without any food supply - and just last long enough for the PC's to enter them.

I went with other. The reason why I got Harn in the first place wasn't listed. However, finding a good gaming group for it in the first place was not perfect.

I came to realize that the people I wanted to play with stick with what they like. Which happens to be D&D or BESM. That, in itself, isn't bad. However, I have a lot of systems under my belt that I haven't played but I do enjoy.

For me, it's not the individual strengths of Hârn that really "do it" for me. It's the blending of those elements in such a way that it still hangs together in a satisfactory manner.

All of it. It is difficult to select one thing in preference to another. It is all of very high quality.

regards,
G.

I chose the last option only because I couldn't choose just one item from the list. I am beginnging to look at trying to get together a group who want to do Harn, of course it's truely realtistic stuff is awsome. So here's my list of things that I like.

The evocation of medieval Terra/Europe
The detail of the written material
The consistency of the written material
The maps
The aspect of verisimilitude
The subtle presentation of the "fantastic" elements
The "exotic"/unique elements
The Earthmaster meta-plot
The creativity of the fan community
The sheer amount of available information